Let's face it, power-supply units (PSUs) are boring. Presented in what's usually a mundane box spitting cables from one end, this is a product that's neither aesthetically pleasing nor technically interesting to the majority of self-builders.

Conceived back in 2004 and brought to market just a year later, the 80 PLUS initiative is one of many standards introduced in an effort to increase energy efficiency in modern technology. Targeting computer power supplies, it awards PSUs that are able to achieve an energy efficiency of over 80 per cent at varying workloads and a power factor of 0.9 or more at 100 per cent load.